A couple of weeks ago, a group of us from the gallery, our partners, friends, and supporters gathered near Bayfield, Colorado to harvest and split firewood for some of the weavers we work with on the Navajo Reservation.

Alice Begay was the first of the five sisters from the Burnham weaving area to take the leap from traditional patterns to creating a unique style that has found acceptance by collectors, museums, and other weavers.

Since I first began working with Navajo weavers, I have been intrigued by how many ways the same basic pattern can be interpreted. In today’s world, it is easy to see how that happens. 

The term, “Navajo Chief Blanket” is a little misleading for a couple of reasons. First, the Navajos really did not have chiefs.

There are not many artists who weave miniature Navajo rugs, but the ones that do are real artists. We were recently given about 70 of these weavings from a collection that has been put together over the last 30 years. I think you might be surprised by how unique they are.

Over the years, we have sold many beautiful pieces that, years later, find their way back to the Gallery. Whenever that happens, it is always accompanied by memories of the artist.

I decided several years ago that it wasn't accurate to refer to every weaving made on a Navajo loom as a "rug." Of course, many weavings are made to be rugs, and most pieces made in the early and middle 20th century were intended for that use. But clearly, many modern Navajo weavings will never be on the floor. At some point, I decided it was rude to refer to these beautiful textiles as "rugs."

A couple of weeks ago, Howard Rowe and I had an opportunity to head out on the Northern Navajo Reservation to deliver some furniture to Marie Begay and her family.

Back at the turn of the 1900s, Navajo weavers were moving away from making the wearing blankets known throughout the Southwest. The Navajo had worn these blankets for over 100 years and traded them to other Native tribes.

Those who have known the Gallery or me for many years know that we were lucky enough to be the first people to market the weavings by the Begay and Barber families that have come to be recognized as the Burnham style. I want to emphasize that all we did was appreciate their different work and do our best to share it with the Indian art world. These ladies did it all.

I don’t have a horse; my sister has plenty of them. I regard them as dangerous on both ends and unpredictable in the middle!

Chief’s Blankets, the real ones, actually disappeared around 1890. As fashion statements and clothing for the Navajo, they had been around for about a century. That’s a long time for a style of dress!